Posted on 10/24/2008 2:20:33 PM PDT by freespirited
To add to the mortgage meltdown miseries, the credit panic, the plunging home sales and the rising foreclosures, here's a new worry: a proposed cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for houses with more than 3,000 square feet.
One of Capitol Hill's most experienced and most powerful legislators is drafting a "carbon tax" bill that would do precisely that. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), expects to introduce comprehensive climate-change legislation when Congress returns next month.
Besides imposing hefty new federal taxes on gasoline, the forthcoming bill would, in Dingell's words, seek to "remove the mortgage interest deduction on McMansions -- homes over 3,000 square feet." Dingell said he recognizes that such a proposal will spark much criticism, but he also said it is essential to reducing carbon emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050.
"In order to address the issue of climate change, we must address the issue of consumption," Dingell said in talking points prepared for town-hall discussions of the legislation. "We do that by making consumption more expensive."
Houses, like autos, are contributors to greenhouse-gas emissions. This is through heating, cooling, electrical usage and building materials, plus the highways and roads needed to make far-flung subdivisions accessible to buyers. Home builders insist that they have "gone green" in recent years and that houses constructed within the past decade are the tightest, most energy-efficient in history.
Aides to Dingell said that because the legislative language on large houses and other tax proposals is still being drafted, neither they nor the congressman could elaborate on the details of the plan or why the cutoff point of 3,000 square feet was chosen.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
We really need a limit of 2 terms per lifetime. these guys stay in for half a lifetime and turn despotic or queer and we have to suffer them.
Al Gore is so screwed.
“cutoff of mortgage-interest tax deductions for houses with more than 3,000 square feet. “
Wouldn’t that mean that Gore and Edwards would loose deductions? Or are they exempt because they are part of the elite?
Well, time to go dynamite away a couple of rooms off of the house!!! Got to keep that mortgage tax deduction!!!
(Just kidding — our house is less than half that 3,000 sq. ft., but Dingell claims this is to reduce “carbon emissions???” Whaaaatttt??????)
As to this point I have seen NO STRONG push to eliminate withholding and the IRS. With out BOTH as preliminaries to the “fair tax” we will end up with both.
So are all those calling for fair tax out protesting JUST the with holding and IRS? NO? Getting the fair tax will NOT make the IRS go away.
End withholding FIRST and you will have my vote. Without ending both FIRST it is just another SCAM to get our money.
As evil as the IRS and withholding are, it means only one tax. IRS + no end to IRS and withholding = all in place and taxing us.
Face facts and past performance of our government. Use your head about this.
Just in the past week we have the Obama Democratsd wanting to kill off ALL tax breaks for 401(k) accounts, for deposits and capital gains, and now they want to kill off housing tax breaks.
This is what the Obama/Pelosi administration wants to do: Tax & Spend.
“Well, time to go dynamite away a couple of rooms off of DINGELL’s house!!!
Stupid effort anyways. If you can afford a large home then AMT kills the mortgage deduction.
No, they would force real estate appraisers to certify the size of every home they appraise and send in forms to the government. They will leave banks out of it as they did with the savings and loan scandals.
Banks are big money contributors to the politicians.
If they’re going to do this, would it be a lot simpler to limit the amount of interest to be deducted to some max amount?
That wouldn’t require people to measure their homes, and the IRS to worry about the size. Nor would it create bizarre anomalies at the threshold.
Nope. They are just getting started.
Is this what you heard about?
It’s just a spin against the flat-tax.
My house is more than 3K, but we have 9 people living in it.
Why should we be punished if using less energy per person than a family of 4 living in a 1500 sg ft house?
How about they just round up the people with large homes and gas them. O/S
Isn’t that how Hitler got started? Taking one group of people and inch by inch taking things away from them?
The Liberty Tree is looking a little droopy; better water it again.
No need; just use the Rat's usual method of putting everyone out of work, and taxing what they have left out of them. No money, no consumption. Simple.
In fact, Mr. Dingleberry, maybe you better embezzle (mis)appropriate some tax money to buy a A-380 to fly around the country to promote this.
These people are totally nuts. If they do half the stuff they are suggesting the Senate and House in 2012 will 95% Republican.
That is an excellent question. Obviously if RATS thought through their dumb ideas, we wouldn't hear so many of them.
No, what I heard was a real estate agent mentioning that Congress might take action like that described in the article — the goal being to encourage people to choose smaller houses.
Remember a few months ago how Nancy Pelosi said she is “saving the planet”? This would be part of that scenario.
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